Cruise Ship Law

CTV News
Canadian Press

HALIFAX -- A Cook Islands safety probe into how Laura Gainey was swept off the tall ship Picton Castle was delayed partly because ship staff accounts of events differed with what appeared in a preliminary report, says the South Pacific nation's transport secretary.

The island nation halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii is conducting the inquiry because the training vessel, based in Lunenburg, N.S., is registered in the Cook Islands rather than Canada.

Aukino Tairea, the country's transport secretary, said in an interview that he expects to receive the report this week. He had originally expected it at the end of May.

The original investigation was conducted by retired naval captain Andrew Scheer, a consultant based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and was released in March to the Cook Islands ships registry.

Tairea then appointed a three-person review panel - including a New Zealand lawyer, a Cook Islands police inspector and a member of the island's ship registry - to go over its findings.

Asked if the panel had any problems with the initial report, Tairea replied, "It didn't quite provide the information that stacked up with some of the information provided by the ship, or the captain's stuff.

"The board found it difficult to understand the chain of events that have happened, and some of the processes on the vessel itself."

Scheer's office in Fort Lauderdale said all comment must come from the Cook Islands.

Tairea said he doesn't expect the marine board of inquiry he appointed will take much longer to supply the report.

"We're just as anxious to receive the report as anybody else. I'm going to force him (the inquiry chairman) to get the report out as soon as possible," he said in an interview last week.

He also noted that one member of the board of inquiry had been travelling to meetings of the International Maritime Organization, which had delayed the drafting of the final report.

Peter Lahay, the Canadian co-ordinator of the International Transport Worker's Federation, a trade union group that represents seafarers around the world, said the Transportation Safety Board of Canada and Transport Canada "should have taken some initiative" on the case.

"It should have been a Canadian investigation," he said. "It was a Canadian death, essentially a Canadian vessel. I think that's a strong enough connection for Canada to have had an investigation."

The safety board is supplying information to the Cook Islands to assist in its inquiry.

The Picton Castle accident happened last December about 880 kilometres southeast of Cape Cod, in seas with waves over seven metres and winds that gusted to more than 80 km-h.

After a three-day search for Gainey, the vessel continued its voyage to Grenada and spent the winter and spring travelling the Caribbean providing sail training to students and trainees.

The barque was also temporarily converted into a "pirate vessel" for producer Mark Burnett's latest reality series, Pirate Master.

Ken Potter, the manager of operations for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, said Canadian authorities have the legal authority to conduct their own independent inquiry into such accidents, but chose not to in this case because international conventions dictate that the flag state should be the lead agency.

"We're not precluded from doing it," he said in an interview. "However, the flag state has the first right, and the first obligation to do so. In this circumstance it just seemed expeditious to allow the flag state to do it."

He said findings by the Canadian safety board legally require action by affected federal departments, but that isn't the case with the investigation done by the Cook Islands.

"Legislatively, if we make a recommendation to a minister, the minister is obliged to respond within 90 days to one of our recommendations," he said.

Asked if that applies to the probe into the Picton Castle, he responded: "Not on Canada."

"This, of course, was not a Canadian vessel."

The Transportation Safety Board is an independent agency with a mandate to identify safety deficiencies and report publicly on all of its findings.

Eight years after her 22-year-old son disappeared while vacationing aboard a Carnival Cruise Lines ship, Jean Scavone's hopes rise each time her phone rings.

"I'm waiting for Jimmy to say, 'Mom, it's me. I'm here,' " said the 58-year-old Connecticut resident. "I know my son is probably dead, but in my heart and soul I can't believe it because there is nothing that tells me he's gone. He didn't die; he vanished."

Saying Carnival gave her more grief than comfort, Scavone helped form a victims group last year that has been calling for changes in the cruise industry.

Today in Atlanta some of the group's members and cruise industry employees plan to work together with the hope that future victims will find the support that Scavone said she did not have.

Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises are co-sponsoring the Sixth Annual Family Assistance Foundation Symposium, an event founded largely to help survivors of airline disasters.

"I hope it's not a public relations move," said Kendall Carver, the president of International Cruise Victims, the group made up mostly of people who have suffered cruise ship tragedies.

Carver, whose daughter went missing while on a 2004 cruise, and other members of the group will be the first cruise ship victims to speak at the annual event that brings together survivors and responders of tragic events. The symposium's organizer said bringing the victims and cruise industry employees together is a crucial part of helping future victims.

Joint appearances before three congressional subcommittee hearings, including one last month, have been tense. While the victim's group members say new laws are urgently needed, cruise officials maintain the industry has an enviable safety record.

How safe the estimated 10.6 million annual cruise vacationers that leave from U.S. ports is difficult to verify. No government agency publicly tracks crime or overboard incidents that occur on cruise ships, and the industry considers crime statistics "proprietary business information."

Legislation was presented last year that would have required more stringent crime-reporting standards for cruise lines. Another version could be proposed in Congress again this year.

Carolyn Coarsey, co-founder and president of the Atlanta-based nonprofit group hosting the Atlanta symposium, said she has trained some 2,000 cruise ship employees in the past year on how to handle tragic events. Within the last three months, Royal Caribbean International and its subsidiary Celebrity Cruises have joined the organization. Carnival, Princess Cruises and Holland America Line are in the process of joining.

"They want to know how to do better, and they're realizing the need," said Coarsey, whose foundation formed after a 1996 law required airlines to do more for survivors.

Lynn White, a vice president with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity, said her company started a three-person guest care team a year ago and Coarsey's group was instrumental in training that department.

Carver, the victim's group leader, said it is good that the cruise industry is working to treat people more compassionately, but legislation will be key to a long-term solution.

Still, Carver and other victims said they also felt compelled to meet with the cruise company employees this week.

"I can't stand up on a soap box and scream that I'm a victim and not take part in the process to make things better," said Virginia resident Kimberly Dean Edwards, 42, who is still engaged in a civil suit with Royal Caribbean after she said she was forcibly fondled in a woman's restroom aboard Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Sea in October 2004.

Carver, Edwards and others have agreed to participate in training videos that will be shown to cruise company employees.

"I hope by hearing my story, they will be touched in a way that they will say, 'This stops now. We will not re-victimize another person,' " Edwards said.

By M.C. MOEWE, Staff Writer
Daytona Beach News Journal Online

Search called off for missing ferry couple
By David Sapsted
Telegraph.co.uk

A major search was called off this afternoon for a couple who disappeared from a cross-Channel ferry in the early hours of this morning.

Coastguards admitted that they did not know if the man and woman, who were travelling on a Brussels-bound coach aboard the P&O ferry Pride of Kent, had fallen overboard or had simply got on the wrong coach when the ship arrived in Calais from Dover at about 2am.

After a search of the ship failed to find any trace of them, French and British coastguards launched a major air and sea search involving four lifeboats, a plane, a rescue tug, two helicopters and a French frigate. Shipping using the Channel was also put on alert for the couple.

Conditions in the area were said to be choppy but visibility was good. However, at lunchtime, French and British authorities agree to call off the search.

“If they had fallen from the ferry and were still on the surface, they would have been found by now,” said a Coastguard spokesman. ”It is possible that the bodies have sunk but it also possible that they got off at Calais after boarding the wrong coach or, even, getting a ride from someone in a car. Inquiries are continuing at both terminals.

"If they have fallen from the height of the ferry, the bodies might well sink and may not surface until days later. We cannot rule anything out from a tragic accident to suicide to a simple misunderstanding.”

The alarm was raised when the Anglia International coach driver realised that the couple, who were travelling without luggage, were missing when he went to disembark at Calais.

Andy Roberts, of Dover Coastguard, said that there reports of the couple being seen on board the ferry shortly after it set sail from Dover.

Montel Williams is airing a show on Monday (10/16/063) called Dream Trips Turn Tragic. The show will include an interview with one of our maritime law firm's cruise ship sexual assault clients. The show will also interview familty members of passengers that have disappeared on cruise ships.

We will try to get a copy of the show to post on this blog after it has aired. Check your local listings to see what time Montel Williams is on in your area and watch it on Monday.

Here's the summary on the show about cruise ship vacations turning tragic:

When most people get ready to take their dream vacation, they plan what to pack, what to do and where to go, but they rarely plan on how to stay safe. We’ll meet people who say they were on their dream trips when tragedy struck…and their lives will never be the same. We’ll meet Laurie, who says she was raped on a cruise ship while on vacation. We’ll also meet Melinda and Duane, whose relaxing holiday turned into a terrifying adventure when they were targeted by thieves. They were on vacation driving down the coast in Costa Rica, when they ran into a gang of gun-toting bandits on the highway. They were shot at until they were able to finally find safety in a small town restaurant. We’ll talk to Sue, Ron, and Katie, a family left with many unanswered questions after their son (Katie's brother) Daniel went missing from a cruise ship. Daniel was on his first week-long vacation with his friends when he became sick one night while alone on the ship's deck. He was leaning over the railing of the cruise ship and suddenly fell overboard. Kimberly Dean-Edwards, a legislative board member for International Cruise Victims will also join us to talk about her work with Congress to try and get a bill passed that will hold cruise lines more accountable for crimes and missing person cases at sea. We’ll also meet Sandee and her two children, Ryan and Krysta. While on a family vacation in Florida, Sandee’s then 13-year-old son Ryan, got caught up in rough water in the Gulf of Mexico. Her husband Larry and another man on the beach raced into the water to save him. Ryan managed to get to shore safely but Larry was still caught in the riptide. Sandee arrived at the water’s edge to find beachgoers attempting to drag Larry to safety. Unfortunately, Larry drowned trying to save his son’s life.

Another cruise passenger disappearance to report. It is very important that people realize that they must be careful on a ship and that it is not a totally secure enviorment. More on the latest cruise passenger disappearance to come....

CruiseJunkie has compiled a detailed list of 53 persons that have gone overboard from cruise ships since 1995. The list was compiled from media sources as well as private correspondence with Ross Klein, the CruiseJunkie author. Overboards include everything from suicide, to possible murder (investigations ongoing) to people that have just disappeared from the cruise ship so are presumed to have gone overboard.

View the detailed list of persons overboard since 1995 on the Cruise Junkie web site.

ABC News brings cruise passenger disappearances to mainstream news. The word is finally getting out that something needs to be done to make cruise ships safer for passengers and crew. Finally a major news station is also catching on to this story bringing into the mainstream.

At LMA we have created a new blog section dedicated to Cruise Passenger Disappearances, as well as a new practice area on our web site dedicated to this area. We will be adding more info to the web site including a listing of people that have gone overboard. Regarding the cruise passenger disappearances blog, check back or sign up for the feed for regular updates on this evolving hot topic. Hopefully within the next year or two we can be dedicating this section to the reforms that the cruise lines will have been forced to make.

Read ABC's story below:

About a dozen people have gone missing on cruises in the last 2 years

Lawmakers are set this morning to investigate the potential dangers to vacationers cruising the high seas.

Two congressional committees will hold a joint hearing focusing on cruise-ship disappearances and crimes. The hearing comes on the heels of another cruise-ship disappearance in recent months, this one aboard Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Sea, which returned to Florida on Sunday with one less passenger than when it departed.

Source: ABC News

Lipcon, Margulies & Alsina, P.A. is in the news regarding cruise passenger disappearance. Our firm is hired to represent the family of Annette Mizener. Read the news story below.

The family of a Wisconsin woman who disappeared from a cruise ship sued Carnival Corp. for $15,000 on Monday, claiming the crew's failure to monitor a surveillance camera delayed search-and-rescue efforts.

The surveillance camera in the area where Annette Mizener's purse was found had been covered, preventing the crew from seeing her go overboard, according to the civil lawsuit filed in Miami.

''Had they checked on it immediately when it was covered, they would have known she was overboard,'' said Charles Lipcon, a Miami attorney representing Mizener's family. ``There was a long delay due to a failure to monitor the camera, or check why it didn't show a picture.''

Mizener, 37, disappeared from the Carnival Pride on Dec. 4 during a weeklong cruise in Mexico with her parents and 17-year-old daughter.

Source: The Miami Herald November 22, 2005

USA Today wrote a story about missing cruise passenger Annette Mizener. Charles Lipcon is representing the Miznener family.

An excerpt from the story is below:

The family of a Wisconsin woman who disappeared from a cruise ship sued Carnival Corp. on Monday, claiming the crew's failure to monitor a surveillance camera delayed search and rescue efforts. The surveillance camera in the area where Annette Mizener's purse was found had been covered, preventing the crew from seeing her go overboard, according to the civil lawsuit filed in Miami.

"Had they checked on it immediately when it was covered, they would have known she was overboard," said Charles Lipcon, a Miami attorney representing Mizener's family. "There was a long delay due to a failure to monitor the camera, or check why it didn't show a picture."

Source: USA Today

Read the entire article on the USA Today web site.

Learn more about cruise passenger disappearances and the law regarding search and rescue.

We all remember hearing about missing cruise passenger George Smith, who went on a cruise for his honeymoon, never to be seen again. George Smith was never found and his family it seems may never know what really happened to him. Finally, last month, Congress ordered an investigation into his disappearance and MSNBC has been airing specials on this as well as on other cruise ship crimes.

View the most recent clip from MSNBC's Scarborough Country, which features maritime attorney Charles R. Lipcon discussing the congressional investigations ordered on missing cruise passenger George Smith.